


Finding Space

by Ammeh



Category: Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (Visual Novel)
Genre: 7KPP Week, Corval Court, F/M, POV Child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 17:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14085624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ammeh/pseuds/Ammeh
Summary: Sina's new sister is pretty much the best sister ever.For some reason, though, some people don’t seem very happy she's here.





	Finding Space

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 7KPP Week 2018, for the "Family" prompt. It was originally going to be a montage of various LI family members meeting various MCs, but attempting to get inside the mind of a baby Corvali princess turned out to be way too much fun, so it ended up as a bunch of Sina.

Sina's new sister is pretty much the best sister ever.

For some reason, though, some people don’t seem very happy she's here.

Sina thinks some of them might still be mad that Sina was _right_. When she heard the boats had come back, Sina had managed to slip past her ladies, to where all the people were standing around the big room by the doors and trying to pretend they weren't there to watch big brother Zarad and the others walk in.

She'd heard some pretty ladies wonder if Zarad was bringing a wife back, and then laugh like it was a joke—so she'd corrected them, told them yes, brother Zarad was definitely bringing her a new sister like she'd asked—and they'd just made that face like they thought she was saying something funny but didn't want to disagree with her. It's very frustrating being a princess sometimes. How is she supposed to explain why she's right if people refuse to actually tell her when they think she's wrong?

But then big brother Zarad walked in, and next to him was a beautiful lady who Sina knew _immediately_ was her new sister. The ladies next to Sina gasped when Zarad introduced her to Papa, though, and when Sina looked at them again they were all upset but had those fake smiles like they were trying to pretend they weren't. They were like that for _weeks_ , which Sina really thought was a bit too long to pout about being wrong.

And there was really no reason to take it out on Sina's new sister, but Sina's heard those ladies and other ladies whisper _all sorts_ of nasty things about her. Constance told her the ladies were jealous that _they_ weren’t Sina’s new sister, but that would be silly, because being a princess is Very Frustrating and because most of the upset ladies aren’t nearly important or clever enough to marry big brother Zarad.

People whisper that big sister Valrise isn’t important enough to marry Zarad either, that her family has no influence and she inherited everything she owns from her old husband. They say that she killed her old husband, too. Sina’s gotten the impression that a lot of people have killed someone, and that it’s not always the ones people _say_ have killed someone, so she doesn’t really care as long as Valrise doesn’t like killing husbands in general. Papa kills people all the time, except he doesn’t have to keep it secret because he’s Emperor.

She’d asked Valrise if she was planning to kill big brother Zarad, just to make sure. Valrise just laughed and said, “Only if he really annoys me,” then sat Sina on her lap and did up her hair like a fancy Revairan lady. Her new sister Valrise isn’t as silly as big brother Zarad, but she’s a bit like him in that she’s almost never serious. (Sina isn’t sure how they got to know each other if neither of them ever says what they actually mean.) She also has curly hair, like Sina, so she knows how to make Sina’s hair look nice and not like a ridiculous ball of fluff, like it did after Lady Nasrin tried to brush it the time Sina was practicing somersaults right before she was supposed to visit Papa.

Lots of ladies whisper that big sister Valrise isn’t pretty enough for brother Zarad, but also that Zarad must have only married her for her looks. That’s how Sina knows Constance must be right that they’re jealous, because only jealous people make that little sense. Sister Valrise has pretty hair and a pretty face and wears pretty clothes, and she’s smart and funny like big brother Zarad. Sina knows Zarad must have chosen her because she makes him so happy, even if he pretends to like other ladies better when other people are around. Sina isn’t entirely sure how their relationship works, because the romance books Lady Isra reads aloud sometimes (when she’s supposed to entertain Sina but wants to be alone in her room) make it seem like people in love normally exchange more “I’ll die without you”s and fewer fake insults. However it works, though, it makes brother Zarad really happy. He doesn’t look tired as much anymore, even when Sina sneaks up on him and doesn’t give him time to put on his not-tired face.

Some people told Sina that big brother Zarad wouldn’t have as much time for her once he was married, but they lied, because he actually has _more_ time—plus she has a new sister who can spend time with her too. Big sister Valrise asks for Sina’s help with all sorts of things—helping her choose between dresses, advice on who she should consider to be one of her ladies. She’s even going to get a pet fox and let Sina help her pick a kit. She doesn’t just ask Sina for help, though, she also helps Sina with things—like saving her from having Lady Nasrin fix her hair, or from being _so bored_ she thinks she’s going to explode, or from losing her sandal under a table at a party she was supposed to be in bed for.

She’s pretty much the best big sister ever. Which makes sense, because she told Sina that she has eight younger siblings, so she must have a lot of practice.

Constance is a good sister too, but she isn’t funny like sister Valrise, and lot of times she seems sad when they’re alone and she thinks Sina isn’t looking. Sina can’t figure out how to cheer her up, so it makes Sina kind of sad, too. She thinks a lot of ladies who grew up in other nations just don’t like Corval court much. She was a little worried that her new sister wouldn’t either, but sister Valrise seems to enjoy court stuff like talking in circles and charming people who are being fake-nice until they forget they’re faking. (It probably helps that Valrise is married to big brother Zarad and not big brother Aamir. Sina wouldn’t want to be married to big brother Aamir either.)

It’s why Sina doesn’t understand why people talk about how long big sister Valrise is going to “last.” Constance has lasted _forever_ , since before Sina was born, and she doesn’t even like it here. Valrise does like it here, so she must be going to last longer. “People keep wondering how long you’re going to ‘last,’” she’d told Valrise. She knows that sometimes people still forget she’s not a baby and say things around her that they wouldn’t say in front of other grown-ups, and that sometimes people like big brother Zarad and sister Valrise like to hear what those things are.

“Probably longer than whoever was asking that,” Valrise had said, tugging on the scrap of paper Sina had been watching her fold and unfurling it into a little swan. “They don’t sound very perceptive.”

Sina doesn’t think so either. She and big sister Valrise and big sister Constance can all take care of themselves.

After all, they’re _princesses_.


End file.
